The Alphabet has already given a pilot commitment for the project, which will center around Cox as a comely and newly single 40-year-old mother with a 17-year-old son.

After working with the actress on Friends and on a three-episode guest arc on the new season of Scrubs, Lawrence felt the "comedically fearless" Cox, 44, will be perfect for bringing sexy back to fortysomething women, who talk "about Botox, about having sex with the lights on and how her body is changing."

This will be Cox's second series since Friends bid adieu in 2004, following the tabloid-y Dirt, but will be her first sitcom since the fab six sipped their last lattes at Central Perk.

Keeping it in the family, Scrubs writer Kevin Biegel will pen the series, while Lawrence's wife Christa Miller (aka Jordan on Scrubs) may drop by Cougar Town too. It is Miller who served as inspiration for the series, Lawrence said. That's a compliment, right?

Lawrence and Cox, who both have development deals with ABC, will executive produce. Production will begin in January for a possible midseason premiere.